Horrendous spelling on ATS... a sign of the times?

reply to post by Diplomat


Here you go Peeps . If you don't Own a Dictionary , or are to Lazy to use one , I got the Fix .............



www.spellchecker.net...

This is how my speling wood be withowt a spelcheca in my browser. Sad i no but so is the whether rite, now. Waether this is importent is upto the staff. It raelly is there decision to deside if speling and grama need to be their.

i hope somedays that ppl luv my thoughts and ideas more then my speling and grama usuge. Cing people pick out my speling and grama makes me sad

I stopped reading this thread and skepped to t he end whin the OP said he wasn't going to finish reading someones post.........NOW HOW DUM IS THAT???

Oh and by the way, a ; is used like this

I don't like the health care bill; in fact, it sucks.

So there ya go.

Did ya like my spelling errors, I dated an English teacher, he taught me good. Insert smiley.

Originally posted by Diplomat
reply to post by Silver Shadow

 

It's much deeper than just spelling. The terrible spelling is a sign of something much more intricate, I'm afraid.

If that's the case, then why didn't you start a thread about that then? It would certainly be more interesting and useful than merely complaining about the spelling of other posters.

It is a valid observation. It is a sign of the times in education and in health and global communications. Many people do struggle to communicate effectively. Either as a result of limited education, health problems or English as a very foreign, second language.

Personally I feel a bit of pride in the ATS community when they can accept people who communicate as best as they can knowing it is flawed and limited. Everyone cares enough to continue to try and help keep better understandings available. Even if their communications is not top quality, the message is more important than the messenger.

Originally posted by Silver Shadow

Originally posted by Diplomat
reply to post by Silver Shadow

 

It's much deeper than just spelling. The terrible spelling is a sign of something much more intricate, I'm afraid.

Perhaps, but for some people here English may not be their first language, and dyslexia is more common among highly intelligent people.

Typing stuff out rapidly on a chat Forum is not quite like composing a formal letter to some God like figure.

Personally, I am far more interested in the substance of a post, than the omission of a comma somewhere.

But each to their own I suppose.

Yep...I copletely agree with this. I am a 'foreigner' and I am happy with my abillity to read and write english so far.

Only sloppy people write mistakes while knowing they are mistakes and do not correct them.

I bet that most spelling/grammar critics are not able to read and write my native language. And if they do, this is not the place to tell them, all I will do is ask them to explain themselves if I do not understand.

For me, I always check what I have written and correct my mistakes if I see them. My grammar and spelling is not at the level of an english literature writer but I am still learning.

Everybody is doing their best to make their message come across and that is what matters.

I belief that somebody who thinks that the writing is more important than the message they should join a spelling and grammar forum somewhere and eat their heart out.

You know what? At some point i have to agree with you. I also see everyday here on ATS more and more unintelligent comments\posts ect. This used to be a site where the top priority news in the world came first, were former cia\fbi\nasa\government agents used to even sacrifice their lives just to put out the truth for us. Where scientists and high intelligent people gathered around sharing their relative\friendly ideas and thoughts.

But now? I see unrelated\aggressive\unintelligent posts and comments EVERYWHERE. People who have NO CLUE WHAT SO EVER.

Where are my fellow scientists\agents?

The site is overrun by debunkers and unintelligent sceptical characters who loves an argue or a fight.

I know for a fact that Obama wants to have this site closed down and destroyed,but since it isnt done yet i assume the job is are harder than it looks. So what better way would it be than filling the site with sceptical unintelligence who ruin everything the site stands for.

wich is AboveTopSecret.!!!!


But on the other hand. This is not a sign of "downunder". But i believe that we humans are at this rate unworthy even of existence in the galaxy. We are the trash of the galaxy.

[edit on 26-3-2010 by Archirvion]

reply to post by Merriman Weir


You are a perfect example of what this post is about!

Spell checkers are fine up to a point. They will give you the correct spelling for a word but they wont check the context.

So for example in one of the posts above the author used "threw" instead of "through". A spell checker will not point that error out for you. Many words in english sound the same but are spelled differently and have different meanings.

Bad spelling is not confined to ATS, I see it all over the place. I did a university course a couple of years ago. One of my essay's got a poor mark. I looked at another student's essay which got a better mark than mine and was amazed to see the many spelling and grammer mistakes, but the university did not appear to take that into account.

It just seems nowadays to be politically incorrect to point out spelling errors to people these days. Hence I don't do it anymore. Which is a shame because how else can people improve their spelling unless somebody is willing to correct them.

If I make a mistake, I would prefer if somebody would point it out.

Also I would say there is a difference between a typo and a spelling mistake.

You can't even have a proper debate anymore because people can't comprehend the written word. You try to prove a point and all you get is arguments because they don't understand what you've written. Then you've got to explain word for word what your sentence meant.

And I'm not talking about speakers of languages other than English. I find that they know English better than English speakers know other languages.

[edit on 26-3-2010 by TheComte]

You spell bad = My argument is weak.
hoo reelie karez about speling anyhow? English iz knot evreewons first langwage yoo no. Az long az eye kan compreehend wat teh other guy iz saing then everiething iz ohkay.
www.abovetopsecret.com...

reply to post by zaiger


^Tru dat

Butt byer beewayer der iz aloht off wurds innit payge ant sum fo dem r rly byg.

Jist reember dat iff wot u sae es eezaly untrstewed den peeple wul lern frum ewe an de wurld wil b r bttr plais.

-m0r

reply to post by Diplomat


Yes, i feel it IS a sign of the times.

But not only the obvious, such as bad schooling and so on, but cultural reasons too.

'Texting' (is THAT even a proper word?), and 'text' language is prevalent. It's like an insidious, creeping attack on the English language, which is my first language, although i suspect the same is true in other non English speaking countries.

Also, there is, to a large degree an element of laziness involved here, whether due to personal ambivalence, or a symptom of a society that is running in perpetual 'top gear', or moving too fast.

Online spell checkers and dictionaries are available to anyone with the motivation to search for and install one.

So, there is really no excuse for bad spelling in the forum..grammar and punctuation are another side of the coin, and i have to admit my punctuation often leaves a lot to be desired (spelling too, although i use a spell checker)

Some people suffer dyslexia of course, which makes written communication very difficult and 'unnatural' or counter-intuitive for them. Perhaps a high proportion of the 'one or two line' posts are due to these people, who are trying to participate and get their thoughts out there, but have great difficulty in doing so.

I feel for these people, who are often very intelligent, but come across in the written sense, as anything but.

Yes spelling verry bad!!!?= i think ................I thinK tHey Might be Alliens Who SpeLLings is Verry Bad_ and1 I thin Keyboard has To meny lettErs, numbers and signs I wanT to use them too%,êßìÐÐwell what you tink²²ÌÑ?............... æª╝Õ+☻[lCÝØB5○♀♀6ÌB ○6♠○``♣5_6`┼Ñ_

Hello, why is Diplomat's avatar so unnerving?
Right, spelling, I have a 9 year old grandson, has an English teacher teaching him English, and what a bad job she is doing, 'shotted' instead of 'shot', 'flewd' instead of 'flew', to name just two (sorry for the rhyme!) I hope this gives you an idea of the standard of educashun (sorry, education) some pupils get these days, no wonder American children shoot each other, cannot make themselves understood, plus the really stupid TV series glorifying school bullies and bullying.

I have just been reminded of a short story I read in the Readers Digest (I think) many years ago, where there were three men in a railways carriage travelling across France, an Englishman, a Swiss, and a Frenchman, all three spoke English, but the Englishman still had to translate for the other two, just goes to show that interpretation is all.

Look, I haff to acree wif da OP on dis 1. I haff notised a lott off peeple not spallin proparly 4 a lonk tim now. it seams to bee getin worss. aspeeshally da phull stops an ovar tings,

Seriously though, I try really, really hard to get my spelling right. I was just reading a post where someone posted a mistake by getting here and hear the wrong way around.. That was interesting. Could have been a simple mistake.

Trouble is these days, I think, Spelling doesn't seem to be such a high priority in the school system any more and seeing as TXT on Phones has made it to the dictionary, I'm not surprised.

Any spelling mistakes I make seem to be from me hitting the wrong key on the keyboard and not looking over my post. Simple mistakes that I don't think "Dumbs" anyone down and what does it matter as long as everyone knows what it means?

In fairness, English is a difficult language to master. The characters are easy to write and the number of letters and punctuation marks are rather simple to grasp compared to most other languages. But reading well, spelling accurately and using correct grammar can be challenging even for native speakers.

The good thing about English is that it is very flexible. It is not hard to work out what somebody is trying to say, even if their sentences are nonsensical and grammatically incorrect (some of the time at least).

Also remember that there are intelligent people that are not good with language and communication. So next time you see somebody struggling to express themselves, go easy on them and try to help them out!

[edit on 26/3/2010 by Dark Ghost]

Other than learning disabilities and English not being one's native language, there is no excuse for the excessive amount of illiteracy in today's society. Television and other visual media (why bother reading, when others can feed you their stupidity?) are as much to blame as the Government and their shoddy educational programs. When most of the country's tax dollars are spent on killing people and making the wealthy wealthier, is the high illiteracy rate much of a surprise?

Not only does this system beat people down, it encourages the use of excuses for doing so. Attacking people who have high standards when it comes to the written and spoken word is a sign of weakness and laziness. After all, it is much easier to chuck a few rocks and run than it is to sit your a** down and learn how to correctly utilize the language.

There are typically 3 reasons for bad spelling on ATS:

1) Not a native English speaker....you have to allow for this on an international forum

2) Folks used to IM-ese, who haven't quite made the transition to full sentences, proper grammar on forums, as they are used to quick messages to friends through texts, etc.

3) Kids...you see this especially around spring break, summer vacation, winter vacation, and then sprinkled throughout the year....

The biggest penalty for bad spelling and grammar?

Folks don't take you seriously....